Budget good news for regional viewers
Regional TV viewers were winners in the Federal Budget with $375.4m being allocated over 12 years to bring digital TV to regional and remote areas.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Last night’s 2010-11 Federal Budget was a relatively good one for regional TV viewers.
The Government has confirmed funding to its Viewer Access Satellite Television (VAST) service which was announced in January as $40m per year.
It now allocates a total of $375.4m over 12 years to assist commercial and national broadcasters in bringing digital TV to remote areas.
“The VAST service will include the main standard definition channels providing Seven, Nine and TEN network programs, high definition channels, and new digital channels including GO!, 7TWO and ONEHD. All national broadcaster channels will be available including ABC1, ABC2, ABC3, the forthcoming ABC news channel, SBS ONE and SBS TWO,” Senator Conroy said.
The funding will be used to build the satelite service, assist broadcasters in upgrading a number of existing regional analog ‘self‑help’ transmission facilities, and provide satellite conversion subsidies to eligible households.
The government had previously announced a $250m rebate for commercial television networks in February.
It also includes funding of $23.6 million over six years to ACMA for spectrum planning, licensing and regulatory requirements associated with digital conversion and for the cessation of analogue broadcasts.
“The satellite subsidy will be a minimum of $400 per household, with higher amounts of $550 for defined ‘very remote area’ households and $700 for defined ‘far north tropical’ households. In addition to these subsidy amounts, households in identified remote indigenous communities may be eligible for an additional $280 worth of assistance,” Conroy said.
The average cost of satellite dish per household is estimated at $600.
Additionally, the government confirmed National Indigenous Television would receive $15.2 million for 2010-11 to guarantee its immediate future, previously announced last month. This follows a plea from NITV indicating it would have to switch off at the end of June.
But the funding is just for one year while a review of the Government’s investment in the Indigenous broadcasting and media sector, including NITV, is undertaken.
The Budget measures also revealed film industry tax offsets changes to encourage investment in Australia.
Source: budget.gov.au, dbcde.gov.au
7 Responses
It’s time every Australian gets every free to air Channel Possible
The person who came up with the acronym VAST should get a pay rise.
Spencer Gulf and Broken Hill cover more people than either Darwin or Mildura and only have 7 and 10 locally. There is no channel 9 there. Hopefully they will have 9 and more digital channels soon. Southern Cross GTS/BKN would die if everyone in the region went for the satellite.
i cant believe Griffith only has two FTA commercial networks…thats appalling…who is there local member?
it would be great if NITV came to Freeview along with community tv and would be fantastic if all Australians could access these services, not only certain areas. c31 should be made state based.
Would be great to see all Freeview channels in the Spencer Gulf, Riverland and South East of S.A, Griffith in NSW and the remote parts of central, eastern and western Australia. Just hope Southern Cross GTS/BKN, Win Sa and Win Griffith will be avaliable and upgraded to broadcast the full suite of commercial channels including the new 3rd channels from each network even if they are simulcasts for a short time.
Hope they don’t screw it up like the ceiling insulation program
When does NITV come to FTA